Vent: Tesco Van Parking Over Driveway

Arlandria606

Last night (8:15 ish) a Tesco van was delivering on my road. They parked over my driveway, covering the entire access to the drive, despite there being room to park two houses down without blocking anyone's drive.

Note: Before anyone starts off on the "why is this such a big deal, stop whining, just ask them to move if you need to get out" route: I'm pregnant and high-risk as I have a history of unexplained losses. I'm under strict instructions to go straight to the hospital at the tiniest sign that anything is wrong, even if it's just a gut feeling. Yes, I know that the Tesco drivers couldn't possibly know this, but that's my point: they have no idea whose driveway they're blocking and what inconvenience it might cause.

So. I took a photo of the van and sent it to Tesco via Facebook asking them to explain why the van was parking like this. As it's none of their business and not relevant to the complaint, I didn't mention my pregnancy. I expected a generic "we're very sorry, we expect better from our drivers, it is our policy not to do this and the drivers should know" kind of reply. Their actual reply was quite disinterested and only vaguely apologetic:

I'm sure they didn't take long as it looks as though they were about to make the delivery. If it is the case that they were blocking your whole drive, you can speak to the driver to adjust the van so that you are able to move your car out.

I can only apologise if any inconvenience was caused.

While waiting for a response from Tesco, I did some Googling and concluded that the parking was illegal since my car was visible on the driveway, meaning that the van was obstructing my car from accessing the road. I e-mailed my local parking gurus (as directed on my council website); they confirmed that my interpretation was correct, and that the local council would enforce the law in this way. They also advised that if it happened again I should call the council or police so that they can come out and issue a ticket.

With this confirmation, I responded to Tesco:

You don't sound particularly concerned with this situation. That's a shame, because you should be - this van is illegally parked.

I've confirmed this with my local council who have advised that, if it happens again, I should call the police.

As such you may wish instigate a review of the policies Tesco have in place regarding their van drivers' parking choices. Though somehow I suspect that "parking across someone's driveway access is fine, even if there's a perfectly good spot 10 feet behind you" isn't the current recommended course of action.

I do not expect this to happen again.

I've now had a further response:

I understand your concern and we will try not to park over anyone's driveway. We will always try and be of little inconvenience as possible to local residents.

The response that comes easily to mind is: "Oh, you'll TRY to not break the law? Fantastic. I'll TRY not to shoplift next time I'm in one of your stores." Of course, that's highly unprofessional and emotive, so I haven't sent a response to them.

Although I'm happy that if this should happen again (which I doubt it will, but you never know) there's something I can do to get the message to the drivers that it's not on, I'm angry that Tesco aren't taking this more seriously. It is, after all, illegal, and their "apologies" are pretty half-a*sed.

I know it's an extreme situation, but if I were to need to go to hospital, a van happened to be there, it delayed me, and something happened, I would never be able to stop wondering if that delay had been a factor. Frankly I've got enough "what-ifs" to worry about already - they come hand in hand with losses, even if everyone's done everything right. However, I don't want to point this out to Tesco - on the one hand, it's none of their business; on the other hand, they shouldn't need one individual's sob-story as incentive to follow the law.

I'm unsure if I want to take it any further at this point (though if it happens again I definitely will).

Thanks to anyone who read all this - I just needed to have a good vent!

skivenov

Personally I'd say try to avoid raising your blood pressure if you're that at risk.

Much as I hate Tesco with a vengeance, I've been one of those drivers and know they're scheduled well under 10 minutes to do a drop, so it's doubtful they'll be there for long.

As I've always understood it, roughly speaking, if you're in a commercial vehicle and loading/unloading, you can park pretty much wherever you see fit so long as you're not causing a danger, damage, or in a "no loading" area, but you can only do so while you are loading/unloading.

Been there, done it before where I've had no choice to stop and block a road with cars parked down both sides while I dropped a fixture off at a corner shop. Hated having to do it, and I parked up in a space as quickly as I could and walked ten minutes back to the store to do the job.

custardy

So to be clear.
this was a van making a delivery?
So the driver was likely in sight of the van.

Tiddlywinks

You are being way too hysterical and precious about an event that didn't harm you in any way.

Look - the fact that the van was delivering meant that the driver wouldn't have been far away. He would have been within shouting distance if needed to move urgently.

As with the rest of us... the world does not revolve around you and is not here for just your convenience.

honeybean

They apologised what else can they do,the incident happened, if it happens again go and speak to the driver and ask them politely to not park across your driveway as it is in constant use,I bet they would apologise and move their van,I find being polite reaps benefits.

tom15387202

I think the police have better things to do than move a Tesco van.

Poppie68

The driver would be in sight of his van and i presume he was only there for a short while, if you needed to get off your driveway you would only have to ask him to move.
You seem a little peeved (to say the Least) that all Tescos have done is apologise...what do you want them to do?

meer53

Little bit hormonal ? I think so.

A Tesco delivery van isn't going to delay you getting to hospital is it really ? Be a little bit realistic here, how far away would the driver have been ?

Slowhand

I have popcorn to hand if required.

jacques_chirac

Yesterday DPD delivered a parcel to me. The driver is an old friend so we were chatting at the door. The neighbour came out and told him he was slightly over their driveway, would he mind moving. The driver said 'No problem at all' and moved his van. No crisis, no complaining on Facebook - would have probably worked in your situation too.

jacques_chirac

Slowhand wrote: »

I have popcorn to hand if required.

Towels and hot water might be more useful